The violinist Micaela Comberti, who has died aged 50, was, for almost 30 years, at the forefront of an influential generation of British early musicians. As a zestful performer with an inquiring spirit and, more recently, as a thoughtful and dedicated teacher, she earned the affection and respect of colleagues and pupils alike.

Born in London, the daughter of a German mother and an Italian father, Mica, as she was always known, showed musical talent at an early age. At 19, she went to Vienna to study with Eduard Melkus at the Hochschule für Musik, an experience that first pointed her in the direction of historical performance, which was to become the core of her career.

Returning to England in 1972, she studied for three years with Manoug Parikian at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She then spent a second period in Austria, where, at the Salzburg Mozarteum, she became a pupil of Sandor Vegh, whose influence, musical and technical, was profound.

During these two years, her attendance at the classes of Nikolaus Harnoncourt confirmed Mica's interest in period performance. Coming back to England for the second time in 1977, she became involved in the early music scene, which, thanks in particular to the efforts of Christopher Hogwood and Trevor Pinnock, combined with sympathetic support from some recording companies, was in its first flush.

Although she played for a number of ensembles - as did everyone in the still small pool of period instrumental players - it was the English Concert that became Mica's main commitment, and with which she remained, as a principal player, until 1990. Her solo playing can be heard on their recordings of the concertos and trio sonatas of Corelli and Handel, among others.

The other main strand in Mica's musical life, from 1982 onwards, was the Salomon String Quartet, in which she also made her musical voice heard and her mind known, and with which she recorded much Haydn and Mozart.

After leaving the English Concert, due, in part, to the demands of her growing family, Mica began to do more orchestral leading in her own right, regularly for the St James's Baroque Players and Ex Cathedra, and as a guest with other established groups. Meanwhile, she continued to play as soloist in Collegium Musicum 90. Among the recordings she made with them is the Bach Double Violin Concerto, the slow movement of which shows her playing at its most touching.

As a chamber musician, she had a long-standing partnership with the harpsichordist Colin Tilney, preserved in their recording of the Bach sonatas with obbligato harpsichord, and was a member of the Music Collection, a fortepiano trio.

At the same time, she was increasingly in demand as a teacher, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later at the Royal College and the Royal Academy of Music, in addition to her private pupils. She also had an association of several years with Dartington summer school.

Mica's instinct for communication, and the relish with which she passed on her ideas, contributed to her continually increasing personal authority as a musician. However, she remained a colleague whose attitude, while unfailingly supportive, was never passive, and whose contribution, though never destructive, was frequently challenging.

Last August, Mica was taken ill on holiday. When cancer was diagnosed, she chose to fight it solely by following a strict dietary regime, consistent with her questioning of conventional opinions in matters of health. She continued to play a little, and teach a lot. Less than a month before the end of her life, she and I performed a demanding concert of violin duets, in which she played at the top of her form, her energy seemingly undiminished.

She is survived by her violist husband, Gustav Clarkson, two sons and a daughter.

Ivor Bolton writes: As leader of the St James's Baroque Players, Mica was consistently purposeful and detailed in her approach to the music. Her love of singers and their repertoire was evident in our many Handel performances, and she had a gift, rare perhaps among string players, of making telling suggestions to vocal soloists.

From 1999 onwards, she also trained the strings of the Bavarian State Opera in period style for many productions of Monteverdi and Handel. She was much admired for helping make this ensemble, famous for its interpretations of Wagner and Richard Strauss, the most admired in Germany for its Handel performances. Her work will live on in Munich through the largest repertoire of Handel productions of any of the world's great opera houses, and, in 2002, she started on the same endeavour at the Hamburg State Opera.

· Micaela 'Mica' Comberti, violinist, born September 28 1952; died March 4 2003